[RECAP] Bush and The Dead Deads at The Fillmore 8/7

With a Clinton headed back to the White House, 90’s nostalgia seems primed to eat its own tail and bring about the Crystal Pepsi apocalypse we all so rightfully deserve. Sega Genesis-era alt rock heartthrob Gavin Rossdale soldiers on unfettered, tabloid bullshit involving his crumbled marriage to that girl from that show (Didn’t she used to be in a band too, or something?) be damned. We caught Gavin’s then-recently reanimated Bush (only Rossdale and drummer Robin Goodridge remain from the iconic 90’s lineup) at the Electric Factory a few years back and were kind of blown away by how awesome they sounded and how great a singer, guitarist and showman Rossdale still was. Gavin’s victory lap, putting other “legacy” acts to relative shame, continued at The Fillmore on Sunday night.

Another pleasant surprise? Opening act The Dead Deads. Initially put off by their gimmicky-seeming look and name, we were won over in a big way as the set went on by the fun loving furious female five-some, exhibiting an impressively gritty but catchy, metallic, garage punk attack on par with Cancer Bats or Mutoid Man. Definitely one to watch out for in the future. We’d love to see these ladies headline one of the smaller clubs in town.

From the foreboding initial riff of “Everything Zen” onward Gavin Rossdale had the entire venue eating out of the palm of his hand, he and his 2016 incarnation of Bush leading spirited and rousing renditions of songs both classic and new. An excellent cover of R.E.M.’s “The One I Love” anchored the set, belted both to the rafters and directly to every girl in the audience. Rossdale is ever the ladies’ man, and he ate the attention up like a true rock god. He continued his now patented practice of traversing through the crowd as he sang on multiple occasions (no balcony shenanigans this time out though), and sent the audience home happy after one more bleary, crowd-wide singalong of Sixteen Stone anthems “Glycerine” and “Comedown”.